Mum's cleaner gone missing!!!

If she needs the money there has to be a reason she left and will not speak to you or your mother. Maybe your mother has upset her, possibly inadvertently.

It might be kinder not to say she is still working at the offices and assume she has suddenly moved away from the area.

Has anything else gone missing? Not meaning to cast aspersions just wondering if she's gone off with a guilty conscience.

I was reluctantly going to ask the same as Aveline.
(Does your DM for example withdraw her pension in cash and keep it at home?)
Sorry to suggest but…

What a mystery
I think I d try the house again until I found her if you know what time her shift starts maybe try to catch her leaving for work You deserve some explanations well your mum does its a very mean thing to do She could have let your mum know not just left her hanging very cruel

Can you send her a letter?
Ask if she's OK and ask she please get in touch.

Write something nice and not judgemental. Say you need to explain her absence to your mum and maybe she didn't want to work for her but couldn't say so.

She may just be exhausted with some aspect of working for your mum and couldn't tell her.

You say your mum considered her a friend - but maybe she really isn't and this is the problem.

You could ask her if she wants to come back.

The trouble with a letter is it will most likely be ignored and get the poster no nearer the answer I think it’s something that really needs to be done face to face.
Whatever the cleaners reason it’s a cruel thing to do to an elderly lady and if she’s always been kind and helpful is out of character or the character as you know her She could have made any excuse even over the phone if she didn’t have the balls to do it in person to remove herself from your mums job
She needs speaking to Miserable woman

We don't know what is going on in her life.
Short of ambushing her somewhere... a letter is just an option.

I would try ringing using a different phone as she will know your numbers.
It must be upsetting for your mum - I hope you get an answer for her soon.

Well I wasn’t thinking of ambushing her NotSpaghetti but if she was harsh enough to just walk out with no explanation knowing the old lady relied on her, then I do think a letter would be totally ignored and the daughter may as well do nothing

I agree that this is something best dealt with face to face and probably requires you to stake out her house, like a private detective, until you can catch her coming home or going out. Make it clear that your mum is very very worried and ask if anything happened to stop her visiting. Unfortunately elderly people often get attached to carers or cleaners and think of them as friends, whereas these people just treat it as a job. Maybe she just got fed up with the job but it was a nasty way of leaving. I’m sure whatever you discover the answer to be, you will find a way of letting your mum down gently.

Or maybe she has had the chance of more, better paying work somewhere else, can’t fit your mum in anymore, but sooner than telling her, just stopped coming?

My late mum’s mobile hairdresser did this, just didn’t come at the appointment time. We would far rather she had simply told us she was now too busy with other clients and couldn’t do mum anymore.

Some good suggestions here.
I lost a gardener much the same way some years ago.
I tried to phone her and eventually got through. I asked whether I had said something wrong and she said "you know you have" well I still don't know what it was but perhaps she was more sensitive than I knew and took offence over some perceived slight.

I asked mutual friends after her but all that happened was they were able to say she was well.

She moved away from the area and I have another gardener now.

I think there's a division between paid employee and friend which perhaps I had inadvertently crossed and your mum too?

The woman will have regarded the chat as just like the sort of thing you do with work colleagues - nice but not an actual friendship.

Quite likely it's as Calendargirl says.
I'd be inclined to want to find out for sure, tho, but don't know if you really can - unless you can manage to 'bump into' her somewhere.
(On the way out to work doesn't seem like a good time, tho, as she'll probably be in a hurry.)

I think I would just let it drop, she's obviously OK if still working elsewhere

Maybe something happened and she didn't have the courage to say something at the time.

I've just retired as a self employed cleaner. Occasionally I came across customers I just couldn't work with. I would always give a reason to customers why I wasn't returning (Maybe not the real reason).

I think this cleaner has made it quite clear she doesn't want to return

You know she’s alive & well so would just leave it, it’s obvious she no longer wants to work for your mum. Maybe your mum was depending on her too much!
Really the lady should have explained to mum her reasons for wanting to leave her employ.

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I think I will try to call her on a different phone, although even if we did resolve the issue I'm not sure Mum would want her back. I don't think (although I can't be sure) that anything underhand went on. Mum doesn't keep much cash in her flat and or has anything that valuable but I will talk to her and check bank statements etc. The work she did for mum was just light housework, cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, hoovering etc and she was paid over the amount she originally asked for as mum told her she was worth it. She's a good cleaner, conscientious and caring and it just seems so out of character.

From replies here, and experience of work/friends dilemma I think I might just let this go if your mum wouldn't want her back anyway.

Tell your mum that she is obviously OK but you have no idea what's happened.

Hope you find a decent replacement cleaner soon.

Just let her go - find someone else. Sometimes we do say things without thinking. I think as we get older, our tongue gets a bit loose

By all means check your mums bank statements if possible, if all seems ok I would let this drop. Obviously the cleaner does not want to visit your Mum any more - however it was very unprofessional of her to simply disappear. Let your Mum down very gently , tell a few white lies if necessary and find her another cleaner. I can see no value in chasing this person up.

Actually I think both you and your mum have been depending on her too much. Did you pay her extra for the “occasional errand” and the extra responsibility of looking out for your mum when you were away?

If the answer is no then you have been taking advantage of her good nature and maybe your mum made one more ‘extra’ request that made the cleaner think enough is enough.

You’ve both looked on her as a friend you can ask favours of, rather than someone with a specified job to do and a living to earn, The ‘extras’ all took time and energy.

But it’s hard for nice people to say negative things to someone’s face. Easier to walk away, which is what I think she’s done.

Not everyone is particularly socially skilled or articulate enough to explain their resignation. It was obviously easier to just not turn up. Leave it. She's clearly indicated that she's not coming back.

Rather a shame she could not have the decency to hand in her notice and explain why. Could she have told dear mum and it was forgotten? Was she employed directly by mum or would you normally organise this? You have your answer though, the lady is safe and well and working. You could get yourself in trouble for harassment waiting at her home or calling from different numbers. Time to step back and find a new more reliable cleaner.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Lathyrus. Even if the lady was paid for doing errands (maybe not so ‘occasional’) and looking out for Mum (whatever that entailed), the extra work, and the chatting for which she would not have been paid, would have impacted on the time she had to do her other jobs and perhaps it just became impossible. She probably envisaged tears and pleading if she gave notice so the easiest way to end the arrangement was simply to say nothing.

MorningMist and Lathyrus3 - When I said that she looks out for my Mum, this consisted of being at the end of the phone if mum ever had a problem (which she never did) but it gave me peace of mind as my brother lives almost 3 hours away. And the occasional errand was picking up her magazines on the way to the flat to do the cleaning (possibly 3 times) which she always paid extra for. This hardly counts as depending on her too much or taking advantage of her.